Rafa Benitez washes his hands of Newcastle's decision not to sign January reinforcements

Liam Kennedy

Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez has washed his hands of the club's decision not to sign January reinforcements.

The Magpies missed out on the capture of Crystal Palace and England winger Andros Townsend on deadline day, despite a protracted chase of the 25-year-old.

Conor Washington scores QPR's first equaliser.

And Benitez made it clear throughout the month of January that his squad required strengthening, with a midfielder, wide player and even a striker, earlier in the window, earmarked.

But United ended up with nothing to show for their month, bar the departure of a number of fringe and youth players on loan.

The Spaniard said it was not his call to have a quiet January.

And he has made his thoughts known to the club prior to Tuesday's close at 11pm.

Ciaran Clark suffered a bad cut to his eye in the first-half.

"It wasn't my decision," he said of the lack on incomings speaking to Sky Sports.

"I said what I wanted, what the team needed and that was it.

"It wasn't my decision."

What Benitez did have control over was his team, and they produced a disappointing show on home turf against Queens Park Rangers last night, despite scoring two cracking goals courtesy of Jonjo Shelvey and Matt Ritchie.